First up…Caiden & Kylee.  Click here for their sneak peek last year.

Next up was the Wine to Water event.  It’s such a great cause, that I’d really like to do a full post on it someday.  The founder of it, Doc Hendley, was nominated for a CNN Hero award last year.  Here’s a video of him at the ceremony…

And here’s another short introductory video…

Click here for his teaser.

Both Doc & his wife, Amber, are so incredibly nice.  And their little boy is just about the cutest thing ever.  They had another baby a few months ago & believe it or not, he’s equally cute!

Doc is a wonderful photographer in his own right.  He captured the images behind him here.

This is Deb, who put the whole thing together.  I photographed her niece’s wedding 2 years ago & also did family pictures for her as well as took photos of her alpacas.  When she asked if I’d be interested in photographing this event, how could I possibly say no?

Next is Ashleigh, who was a senior last year.  She also happens to be Dustin’s cousin.  As you can tell, there are pretty good genes in his family

Love, love, love this one.  You’re so pretty, Ashleigh!

How cool is this wall we found?

Next up?  The Mother’s Day Brunch put on by the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra.  Don’t these look tasty?

Everyone decorated their table differently.  It was so much fun going around and seeing all of the unique place settings.  Again, if I ever get the time, I’d love to show you all of the different ones – they were stunning!

There was also a maypole, along with a demonstration on how to do a traditional maypole dance.  Fun!

Next in line is sweet baby Drew.  These were taken right after he was born last summer & I just saw him Friday as a one year old & he’s still SO cute!

His big sister, Taryn, had just lost her first tooth.  Seriously, now, how cute is she?

Now you get the pleasure of meeting Carrie & Tyler.  I shot their engagement session in Fort Wayne last year.  I was actually supposed to photograph their wedding, but I got my little surprise called Finn & wasn’t able to do so.  I just saw some pictures from their big day & it looked absolutely beautiful.  Definitely sorry I had to miss out on that!

This is actually where their ceremony was held, The Lakeside Park & Rose Garden.  Isn’t it pretty?

Um, Carrie?  You’re stunning. 

Another family session that I shot was with the Seiber family.  Val’s parents have such gorgeous property!  Wouldn’t you like this view in your back yard?

Val & Evan had just got engaged.  Congrats you guys!  Evan is actually the brother of the only senior guy I’ve done pictures for, Mason.

And, finally, here’s a little peek at Shaena’s afterglow session from last October.  I’m definitely going to be posting more of these later, but until then, enjoy this one!

Hope you enjoyed this little trip back over the past year.  I’m looking forward to showing you the last 2 weddings & Shaena’s session, so stick around!

On a crazy, windy evening a few days after we arrived home, a gigantic maple tree in our front yard blew over.  It was half dead anyway, so it wasn’t too big of a surprise.  Dustin was actually watching out the front door when it fell over, so he thought that was pretty cool.  Needless to say, Jack thought it was awesome to have this big tree to play on.  There have been a few tears as Dustin’s been cutting it up.  We’ve promised him a large piece of it by his playground.  Now we just have to get it back there!

Safety first…

The biggest challenge for me this month has been keeping Jack entertained in what has become a fairly boring household.  My energy level is looooow, so I’m not quite as much fun as I used to be.  Assuming that I was ever fun to begin with.  Anywho, I remembered some window markers I had bought last year.  I pulled those out and let Jack go crazy on the sliding glass doors.  He loved them so much he doesn’t want me to wash it off.  No problem.

After Finn, the second most important addition to our household this summer has been an old, Ford tractor.  I feel the need to point out that we aren’t farmers.  However, Dustin & Jack thought we needed one.  Who am I to argue?  It didn’t run at first, but after some hard work, they got to take it for it’s first ride.

A couple of Finn & Jack giving him some love…

Finn had his first bath.  When we started getting the bath ready, the light was great in the sunroom.  Unfortunately, by the time we started bathing him, we were losing light fast.  So, please excuse the quality & just enjoy the cuteness

I couldn’t choose between these three.

Jack somehow managed to rub off a large piece of skin on his nose.  No one knows how it happened, but he was happy to get a Transformer Band-Aid.

We had our first family trip to Target & when Jack got to pick something out for himself, he also picked out a book for Finn.  He hasn’t stopped being a phenomenal big brother.  As a matter of fact, he’s having a special day with Grandma today, but this morning before she came to pick him up, he almost started crying because Finn wasn’t going too.  You’d think he’d want some time away, but I guess not.  Anyway, here he is reading the book to Finn.  Sweetness….

Of particular excitement to me is the fact that Finn took his first bottle with no issues at all!  Woo hoo!  FYI, for any fellow photographers reading this, this was shot at 3200 ISO.  How crazy is that?  I love my D300!

And, finally, we went to Indiana Beach last weekend.  I’m actually going to do a separate post on that later, but here are a few until then.

Here’s how Finn chose to enjoy the day…

I almost forgot this sweet little iPhone photo from the other day.  This is what my mornings look like.  Not bad, huh?

Oh, where to begin?  Honestly, the best place to begin this story is with Jack’s birth.  He was quite the uncooperative baby, which resulted in me having to have a c-section.  After he was born, we found out that he had a condition called craniosynostosis, which, in simplified terms, means all of the bones in his head were already fused together.  If you know nothing of babies (which I didn’t) the bones in their head are supposed to be soft & not connected yet.  Hence, the “soft spot” that every baby-phobe is terrified of sticking their finger through.  What?  That was just me?  Oh.  Anyway.  It’s pretty difficult to deliver a baby with a fully formed, hard head, so that turned out the be the reason I needed  a c-section, although we didn’t know that was why until after he was born, obviously.  I don’t normally talk about Jack & his “special head”, because basically, it’s been fixed through a pretty scary surgery, and so it seems pointless to bring it up.  The reason I did, though, is to set the stage for why I had to have a c-section the first time around.  To say that I hated having a c-section would be an understatement.  The recovery was miserable & I was so upset that I didn’t get to experience a traditional childbirth.  It took me awhile to get over the disappointment, but I did, so that’s that.

Fast forward 3.5 years to when I found out that I was expecting another baby.  I knew that if it’d been 18 months or more, you could attempt a “traditional” birth (VBAC).  I knew without a doubt that I wanted to go for it.  There’s an 80% success rate, so the odds were pretty good.  Plus, and this is the reason for disclosing Jack’s ordeal up there, my reason for a c-section in the first place wasn’t that my body couldn’t do it, but instead that it was a special circumstance.  The only part that stressed me out was the fact that I had to go into labor on my own.  If you’ve already had a c-section they can’t induce you or give you any drugs to move labor along.  So, if you don’t go into labor naturally, you have to have a c-section.  Jack was 10 days late, so that made me pretty nervous.   I tried really hard to just let it go & realize there was nothing that I could do about it.  Easier said than done, but I tried.

My last scheduled doctor’s appointment was on Wednesday, July 28th & my due date was that Saturday, July 31st.  Just like every other appointment, there was no news.  Again, I tried not worry about it, but it was definitely getting harder.  I didn’t want to schedule the c-section just yet, so I made an appointment to come in the next week & if there was no change, I’d schedule one then.  I started to be a little proactive & try to pick a “fun” date to have for his birthday.  We’d decided on either August 9 (8.9.10!) or the 13th, which was a Friday.  We got engaged on the 13th of September, so I associate good things happening on that day.  I figured, if I can’t have the birth I want, at least I can try to enjoy picking the date.  Trivial, I know, but it gave my mind something to think about.

Well, along comes Thursday & I felt kind of sick & run down all day.  Jack got to watch a LOT of tv while he snuggled on the couch with me.  Later that evening, I started having my nightly contractions.  This time, though, they were pretty consistent in their timing of 9 minutes apart.  Plus, something just felt different.  As the night progressed, the contractions got closer together & were around 5-7 minutes apart when we went to bed around 10:30-11 ish.  I just knew that this was it.  Dustin fell asleep, because, honestly, who knows how long something like this will take.  Plus, I’m pretty sure he thought it was nothing.  By midnight, my contractions were about 3.5 minutes apart & definitely getting stronger.  I knew without a doubt that this was it.  So, I finished up a client order & got it ready to ship out & then took a shower & made sure I had everything packed.  I called my Dr. & told her what was going on & she said I could either wait it out a little while longer or come in.  Considering I live 25 minutes from the hospital & we still had to get someone to come stay with Jack, I told her that I would be heading in.  I DID NOT want to deliver this baby anywhere but in a hospital  At this point, it’s 1 am, so I sit on the bed & wake Dustin up.  ”It’s time”.  He looks me up & down, notices I’m dressed & says, “Are you sure?”  After I assured him that I was sure & that I’d talked to the Doctor, he said, “Are you sure you don’t want to try to relax and sleep for another hour?”  What this really meant was “I really want to sleep for another hour”.  I informed him that there was no way I was going to sleep & we needed to GO.  I also let him know that the birth story had already begun & therefore his comment asking to sleep another hour would forever be immortalized along with it  He laughed & got up.  I swear, I thought the man was supposed to bolt out of bed & be all excited.  Not Dustin.  I always knew he was cool under pressure, but this was crazy!  We called Dustin’s brother, Ian, to come stay with Jack & by the time he got to the house, it was DEFINITELY time to go.  We called Dustin’s mom on the way & told her we’d let her know what was going on once we got settled in.

By the time we got to the hospital, contractions were 2.5 minutes apart & I wasn’t talking at all when I would have one.  So we get checked in & I’m all hooked up to everything when the nurses inform me that I’m only 1 centimeter dilated.  WHAT?!?!?!  How is that possible?  Finn’s heart rate was really erratic though, so they let me stay.  If he’d been perfectly normal, they would’ve sent me home.  Needless to say, I would’ve just sat in the parking lot until I could come back in  Well, it turns out that it’s a very good thing we didn’t leave, because half an hour later I was at 5!  At least I knew then why the pain had suddenly become nearly unbearable.  I told Dustin he’d better call his mom, because they live half an hour away.  At this point, I didn’t know if they’d even make it.  And to think, I was worried about not going into labor on my own &/or not progressing.  Ha.

Since I’d gotten to 5, I was tapped up with a sweet, sweet epidural & spent the next few hours in a much more comfortable state.  Unfortunately, Finn’s heart rate was not being cooperative at all.  Every so often a nurse would come in & I’d switch positions in hopes of getting his heart at a better number.  A baby’s heart beats around 140 beats per minute & Finn’s was dropping into the 40′s.  Scary, but at the same time, it seems like it happens ALL the time in labor nowadays.  I just tried to rest & stay calm in hopes of transferring it to him.  By about 8 o’clock, I was allowed to start pushing.  I was so happy that I’d made it this far that I wanted to cry.  Unfortunately, every time I would push, his heart rate would drop & we’d have to wait 5 minutes until I could push again.  Even though the nurse said he was so close, the Dr. came in & said we needed to think about a c-section.  I couldn’t even look at him.  He said we’d wait it out a little bit more, but if Finn’s heart didn’t start cooperating, they’d have to do the surgery.  Unfortunately, his heart rate never improved, in fact, it got really, really slow, almost to the point of sounding like it was going to stop.  The Dr. came in & said we had to do it.  Even though I knew he was right, I was still so upset.  I felt bad for the Dr. because, again, I couldn’t look at him.  I just cried.  BUT, like I said, I knew that it had to be done.  In fact, once they told me they were going to do it, it seemed to take way too long for them to get it all set up & get him out.

Once they got him out & I heard that sweet little cry & knew that he was ok, I was so grateful.  He was perfect.  At the end of the day, I ended up not being nearly as upset about the c-section as I thought I’d be.  Maybe because I got to have almost the whole experience?  I don’t know, I’m just grateful that I have a healthy baby.  He’s been nothing short of perfect these last 2 weeks.  He sleeps like a dream & eats like a pig.  And did I mention how freaking cute he is?  Ohhhh, yeah.  Seriously.

If you read all this, thank you, you’re a trooper  Really, I think I wrote it all out more for myself than anything.  It’ll be nice to look back upon someday.  Now for the part that you really came here for….  The PICTURES!!!  It’s a combination of point & shoot & fancy camera, so there’s a little inconsistency.  I’d much rather have a moment captured less than perfectly instead of missed.

The most important thing to note about this picture is that it was post-epidural.  Otherwise, I’m pretty sure I’d look like a completely different person.  I can guarantee that I wouldn’t be smiling.

Dustin’s self portrait waiting to go in to the operating room.  He has an almost exact copy of this shot from when Jack was born

Only seconds old

About half an hour old

Hello, world

Here’s Finn meeting his cousin, Tristan, for the first time.  Believe it or not, Tristan is only 2 months older than Finn.  I’m pretty sure he’s thinking about eating Finn for a snack here

The Grandmas & Auntie meeting Finn for the first time.  I love this picture SO much.

There’s nothing better than a cuddly baby to nap with

Jack & Finn finally meet.  Jack was SO excited & he’s proven to be a perfect big brother.  I seriously could not ask for a better kid.  It’s completely true what people say, though.  Jack seems absolutely huge to us now.  It was unexpected & it actually makes me pretty sad.  He’ll always be my baby, but he sure doesn’t feel like a baby anymore.  I’m sure this would please him immensely, but it kind of breaks my heart.

One of my favorites

Dustin took this of me, while I was taking the above picture of Finn.  PS – Thanks to my sister, Courtney, for brining me the delicious Starbucks you see there.  Seriously, that was one of my favorite things

While I was setting up the camera to get a self -timer shot, I caught this.  Love it.

The first family photo (sans Jack).

Can I just say how weird it is to post photos of myself on here?  Nevertheless, I absolutely love this one that Dustin took.

We came home to Welcome Home signs all over the place.  Cute!

So, the name change?  This is Vicki, an extremely close friend of the Smith family.  So close, that she’s Granny V to all of the Smith grandkids.  Well, it turns out that Finn was born on her late son’s birthday.  Not only that, but Jack was born on the day (different year) that her (wonderful) husband passed away.  Their last name?  Elliott.  We’d really loved the middle name Rowan, which means “little red haired one”, but Finn somehow magically came out with black hair (thanks, Grandpas).  Now, if we’d never realized the connection to Vicki’s special days, we would’ve stuck with Rowan.  It was still a great name & nobody had to know it’s origins.  However, once we realized the specialness of the day, we thought of how great it would be to use Elliott for his middle name.  Plus, Elliott’s just a great name anyway.  Here’s Vicki right after we told her.  Love it.

Here’s Jack giving Finn his present & card that he picked out for him.  We’d never even told him to do it.  We were at the store one day & he came up with a book that he wanted to “buy for Baby Finn”.  Ok.  Then, another day, he wanted to buy a fire truck card.  No problem.  He never said the card was for Finn, but when we got home, he asked how to spell Finn’s name & wrote it on the card.  Then he licked it, sealed it & put it all in a bag.  He left it there for over a month until this day.  I told you that kid was awesome.  Finn’s very lucky to have him for a big brother.

Our welcome home sign from Jack & Grandma along with our first real family picture.  I’m so happy Jack’s wearing his favorite boots here.  Man, he loves those things.  PS – I’m not floating, I’m standing on the top step

So, when Jack was born, I took this picture from the hospital bed.  It’s always been a favorite, so we had to recreate it with Finn.  So, do you think my photography skills have improved?  Egads.  Although, to be fair, I was pretty drugged up & lying in a hospital bed, but still….

Jack

Finn

Thanks so much for indulging me in the overload of baby info!  Mark this day, ’cause I guarantee I’ll never write another post this long again!  :)

My internet service was knocked out on the Monday that we came home from the hospital, so I haven’t been able to share the exciting news.  I’ll come back with a bigger post this afternoon, but really wanted to get something up here ASAP!  Without further ado, may I introduce you to Finnegan Elliott.  Oh & if we’re facebook/twitter friends, you may be confused by the name.  It was originally Finnegan Rowan, but has since been changed to Finnegan Elliott.  Crazy, I know, but I’ll explain our very good reason for the change this afternoon.  Until then, enjoy this sweet little face…

A closer look at the tree decal, which I love.  It was quite the hassle getting it up there, but now that it’s there, I think it was totally worth it.  Of course, Dustin may disagree, but I’m sure he’ll keep that to himself.  I bought the little birds separate & I think they’re my favorite part.  I’m so glad they were the right size & actually worked out.

Here’s a closer look at the super cute art work.  I had the hardest time finding anything that I liked.  One day, I happened upon the website Children Inspire Design & I fell in love.  She had these prints up on her blog, but they weren’t for sale yet.  I went back everyday for at least a week until they were finally in the store.  Totally worth it.

Cute little birdie night light from Target.  I swear there’s not a bird theme going on!

A few of my favorite details.  I actually made that mobile myself, believe it or not!  I saw one on Etsy, but it was more than I wanted to spend.  Then, as luck would have it, it I found directions on how to make one in an old Martha Stewart Baby magazine that I had.  I’m still debating on adding a 5th pinwheel to the center, but I’m guessing I won’t.  Not because I wouldn’t like it, but because I have about 5,000,000 other things to get to.  Oh & the elephant lamp?  A total steal.  It was a floor model at Pottery Barn Kids & I got it for $19.  Originally?  $59.  Score!

Detail of one of the pinwheels

Here’s a crappy iPhone picture of what they all looked like before they were strung up.

Finally, here are the two areas of the room that I’ll show you later.  The first one looks really bare since the artwork isn’t up.  Guess that gives you incentive to tune in later.  Trust me, it’s going to be so cute!

I still need to figure out something to put on the shelves here.  His name goes on the center one, but other than that, I’m at a loss.  I’m not too concerned though – I’m sure they’ll get filled up one way or another…

Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you that the clock, shelves & perfect little table above were all made by Dustin when I had Jack.  Pretty cool, huh?  The clock will probably have a different home eventually, but Jack keeps saying he wants it back in his room.  He hasn’t mentioned it in awhile, though, so hopefully he’s given up on it.  We’ll see.  Hope you enjoyed peeking around.  Can’t wait to show you the rest!

Jack was extra, super-duper excited for his birthday this year.  I think he started talking about it sometime in April!  Lots of list making for presents, cake ideas & the guest list.  His actual birthday was on a Tuesday, so we had a little party for just the 3 (and a half) of us that night.  Then, we waited a couple of weeks for his “big” birthday party.  Since his birthday falls so close to July 4th, it’s always been tricky to get his friends here.  Waiting until after the holiday made that possible, finally.  It was definitely worth it, because he had so much fun playing with everyone.

As for his cake, I’d just planned on making “Cowboy Cake”, which, if you’ve never had it, is freaking delicious!  It’s this magical cross between cake & a brownie with the best chocolate icing ever on top.  Seriously, just writing about it makes me want to go bake one right now.  Of course that’s not going to happen, but still…  Anywho, Jack was hanging out with me one day when I was reading blogs & happened to see the super cool rainbow cake that Bobbi of bobbi + mike made on her birthday.  Needless to say, once he got a glimpse of that rainbow confection, there was no talking him out of it.  So, the night before the “big” party I figured out how to do it & went for it.  It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, but I don’t necessarily want to make it again anytime soon, either.  Luckily, it was a hit & Jack was very happy to have it.  Oh & as for the Cowboy Cake?  We had that for the 3 of us on his actual birthday.  Score!

The beloved Iron Man

Super excited for a Glow Station!

Jack made a cake to share

Cake #1 – Cowboy Cake

Here’s how Jack does 4…

Party #2!

He was so excited he was doing summersaults all over the place.  Crazy kid

Cake #2, before & after cutting.

Delicious, apparently.

Jack giving his new baby cousin, Piper, some love.  Sweet…

And finally, a quickie family shot (Thanks, Courtney!)  Note to self, do not stand at a 3/4 angle when pregnant – egads.  Also, you’ll be glad to know, Jack’s hair has had a little trim since then too

If you’ve got an extra 90 seconds, check out the slideshow.  Jack’s already watched it 4 times, so it can’t be too bad!  Click here for full size.

He always wants to help with whatever I’m doing, so I thought I would put him to work tearing the ends off the lettuce.  He may’ve been slow, but he was thorough…

Anddddd…. here’s the other side.  Whenever Wrestlemania starts in the living room, I usually make myself scarce.  I’m pretty sure I put a damper on their fun with all my worrying.  No one’s been seriously injured yet, although Jack did say the other day that Dustin “messed up the bones in his neck” or something along those lines.  Yep, exit stage left for me…

The suspense is killing you, isn’t it?

Awwww…. Wasn’t that nice of him?

Ta Da!  I love it, I love it, I love it!  It’s actually a “daddy diaper bag”, which is such a ridiculous concept.  Whatever, it’s perfect for me.

Cross body strap?  Yes, please.

And finally, a couple of cool details.  It comes with a bag to put it in.  I honestly have no idea why, but that doesn’t make me like it any less.  The inside has orange accents.  Hmmm… orange & gray… wonder why I like it so much?

Thanks for indulging me in my frivolity!  Oh & just in case you’re wondering, the bag is the Scout bag by Petunia Pickle Bottom.  It comes in an amazing leather version, but considering I’m not made of money, I stuck with the felt one.